Battle of Giants

Last week we were invited by Ubisoft, a gaming software company, to their San Francisco office to check out their lineup of games for Nintendo DS before they are released this holiday season. We tried and enjoyed several games from Ubisoft's Imagine, Petz and StyleLab lines, but 3Po's and Jammy's clear favorites were two games from Ubisoft's Battle of Giants series: Dragons and Dinosaurs.


The Basics
Ubisoft's Battle of Giants series allows your child to control dragons and dinosaurs and send them into battle with other dragons and dinosaurs. In Battle of Giants: Dragons, your dragon roams the land searching for gems and treasures, using combinations of gems to help win battles against other dragons. And in Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs, your dinosaur battles other dinosaurs for eggs and fossils, which you then use to unlock features that will make your dinosaur even faster and stronger.



Here is what Ubisoft has to say about this series:
The Battle of Giants^TM series on Nintendo DS^TM gives young boys the chance to control and battle some of the most magnificent creatures of all time. From dinosaurs to dragons, these games feature turn-based battles with intuitive and easy-to-play Touch Screen controls, multiple maps and levels for hours of exploration, and multi-player tournament mode to play against friends! Plus, players can customize their creature’s colors, patterns, and physical features to really make them unique. Check out the Battle of Giants video games today!


The Bongga
3Po and Jammy really enjoyed playing these games! Just configuring their dragons and dinosaurs (changing their colors, giving them different features, etc...) was fun, and they loved sending their creatures to battle other dragons and dinos. The interface is fairly intuitive and easy to learn; it didn't take 3Po and Jammy long to figure out how to control and maneuver their dragons and dinosaurs, and if your child is already familiar with the Nintendo DS system, he or she will get it in a snap. There are so many levels of play that they would have played for hours if I let them. They'll definitely get to enjoy many, many 20-minute sessions out of these videogames before they get bored!




The Blah
It's difficult for boys in grades K-1 to play these games since they constantly have to read instructions, especially in the beginning. I wish these games had age or level ratings as well as content ratings -- or that Ubisoft's Parents Corner had recommendations based not only on the child's interest, but also on the child's age -- so that we parents could tell which games are appropriate for our kids' skill level!


The Bottom Line
Ubisoft's Battle of Giants: Dragons and Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs are two great "big boy"-style videogames that even little boys can play.

I received a sample in order to review this product, but no monetary compensation. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.